Indian farmers have planted summer-sown crops on 92.476 million hectares as of August 10, down 1.5 percent from a year earlier, government data showed. Cotton sowing was down 3.9 percent, while rice planting lagged 2.9 percent. Monsoon rainfall was 11 percent lower than normal as of August 10, but in some states such as Manipur the rainfall deficit was as high as 65 percent, data compiled by the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed.
India's monsoon rains, a crucial element for the country's farm output, are likely to be below average in 2018, after the country experienced lighter than usual rainfall during the first half of the season.